Monthly Archives: April 2009

Letterpress Name Stars

What does that title even mean??  

Today I printed a birthday part invitation – it was in two runs with clean justified type for Henry’s 40th birthday. 

The client asked for Red ink. Now, what you may or may not know is that RED ink is the most difficult ink to pin down in the pantone book. As I was printing this last bit of the invitation today, I told my office-mate that Red is my Achilles Heel. I had to pick the red, which I put off til the last minute. Why is that? why do I have such a hard time with red… Well, let’s look deeper for an answer……

Anne of Card Tricks Designs, my office-mate, was talking about color combinations one day. She had a client who wanted to use Orange and Blue. An oceany blue or kind of turquoise one. She instantly complained that she didn’t really like that combo, and wanted to shift the blue to navy or something. I actually like the original combo though it does remind me of the Miami Dolphins…. 

But then she revealed that Orange and that same kind of blue were her junior high colors. and that she always hated that color combo for that reason. 

henrys40thtestIt was at that moment when I figured it out. RED and white were the colors of the Marion Senior High School Hurricanes…. it is very clear. I don’t like straight red for the same reason Anne doesn’t. 

Incidentally, I also don’t particularly care for Kelly Green and white, the colors of Sugar Grove Combined School. Though I don’t really have a problem with Purple and white, the colors of Northwestern University. HMMMM???

I only can wonder if every graphic designer has the same feeling about their school colors. Maybe those formative years are just very color sensitive?

In any case, here is a little starburst of sillyness I printed today…. testing out the red and white for Henry’s invitations….

hanging out to dry…

I have this very favorite paper/fabric cotton organdi…. It’s the perfect fabric for wedding invitations because it is white, starchy, sturdy, natasha wagner invitationtranslucent, and has just the perfect feeling… a little like tulle and a little bit like canvas… I  have been using it for years… (here is my first wedding invitation for Natasha Gregson Wagner using a cotton organdi belly band).

It comes in a few different colors but white always seems to be the best. However, sometimes white is toooooo WHITE. Blaring white is no good for organic handmade looking pieces.

What to do? What to do?!

dieandvatWell, DYE IT!! That’s the answer.

The last two times I used this fabric, I tea stained it with Lipton. Those turned out lovely but probably a little dark for my current client. She wanted something more in a “cream”… a little less orangey than tea stain…

So today, a super sunny Sunday afternoon in California, I mixed up the RIT – a little taupe and a little yellow – in a big vat and dyed all these sheets…. Now they just need to be pressed out flat again and they will be ready to go cut and wrap up a pretty warm white wedding invitation…

 

fabricWhat a nice way to get back to my country girl roots, hanging out clothes on the line for the sunshine to dry. It’s kind of zen, creates a perfect embellishment, and allows the sun to do the rest of the work… oh, it’s kind of green, actually!

Spikey/Soft

I know, I know…. it’s been awhile since the last post…. I have been very busy busy on lots of projects for the past three weeks! 

The other day I had a good reason to have a bunch of photos taken of my apartment… It was fun, mostly because I had a professional photographer, Joshua Targownik, snapping the pictures. He did an amazing job and took this particular one… (more are forthcoming, I promise)dandelion spiderweb….

I wanted to talk about this understated set though it it probably understated compare to the rest of my colorful surroundings full of phones and flowers. I took a copper etching class a couple of years ago and found it completely delightful even though I am a letterpress printer for a living. It was a chance to play and make art completely without a computer (usually I do the artwork & typesetting on the computer and then print… you know…). 

Anyways, I got into the idea of juxtaposing two similarly shaped things which had the same lines but completely different meanings. Now, I am not sure if my idea comes across totally, but I etched out a dandelion puff and a spider web. Mind you, they were scrapped freehand completely in copper using a sharpish needle… I didn’t exercise a lot of control over my lines but I liked the look. was trying to use the same kinds of lines in both images but in different directions… sort of.. they both have the same base structure but the small lines either connect to one another or puff out… I think maybe the dandelion puff is the feminine and the spiderweb is the masculine. the same, but different…

Then using a very simple but wonderful process & press, I printed these on handmade paper. This is so yummy because the copper plate completely mushes the texture out of the paper, leaving the area around it smoooooooth. I love that part! yum!

I  mounted them on pale yellow handmade paper with a natural deckle and taped some string to the back and then I had two new pieces of art for my walls. Lovely!